Sarah Dornner

Pole Trap, 2012

Aluminum, nylon, steel

420” x 180” x 180”

Pole Trap is a vertical column composed of a woven pattern and rooted with three isometric lines. Appearing to be simultaneously two and three dimensional, the work exists in its own deceptive and illusionistic space in which impossible Escher-esque shapes can live. To create Pole Trap, Dornner mastered triaxial weaving, a technique used for centuries in Japanese basket making (Mutsume-ami) and more recently for technological and aeronautical applications, to form a pattern known as ‘tumbling blocks’. Woven with careful precision, the pattern resembles dimensional stacked cubes that appear to maintain their size with distance, forever extending both up and down.